US Troops Flow Into Baghdad, Officials Still Pressing for Maliki’s Ouster

The Obama Administration appears to be of two minds about the Iraqi military intervention, and which position their taking seems mostly a function of where officials happening to be visiting. Yesterday, Secretary of State John Kerry was visiting Baghdad, and hyping imminent “intense and sustained” military intervention for the Maliki government.

Today, as the first US troops arrive in Baghdad to assess the state of Iraq forces, Kerry has gone northward to the Kurdish capital of Irbil, and is now insisting no serious US military action will take place until the formation of the next government in Iraq.

Though the administration continues to move pieces into place for a military intervention in Iraq, they appear to be dangling the prospect in front of Iraqis as conditional on ousting Maliki.

At the same time, ISIS continues to shore up its control over the country’s north and west, and is parading US-made vehicles through Mosul, captured when the Iraqi Army fled.

The US “advisers” on the ground are taking stock of what the Iraqi military has left, but at this point the answer seems to be unclear, as their morale is in tatters after repeated routs and analysts are saying much of the force is “combat unready.”

Author: Jason Ditz

Looks like the Iraqi people are in for another mass bombing, and we here in the States are in for another quantitative easing; bend over everybody.

curmudgeonvt

"…assess the state of Iraq forces…"

They know exactly what the state of Iraqi forces are. It's exactly that same as it was when the US retreated in 2011, despite all the happy-talk the Pentagon and the politicians bandied about regarding the capabilities of the Iraqi forces that the US "trained." Besides, part of the job of the Ambassador is to know these things, being there to observe and report back to Obama/Kerry. These "assessors" are not there to perform a desk-jocky's job. They are there to determine where the US can re-insert combat troops – because you know that's what they really want to do.

EME

I wonder if the stenographers in the US corporate media will
dust off their Operation Iraqi Liberation motto? Probably not.
The acronym (OIL) might be a little too revealing of the USG's
true intentions. We've heard this yarn before.

Belphegor69

How can you take the US seriously when, as it has thru much of the Obama regime, spoken out of both sides of it's mouth? Remember fondly the peace all around the middle east before American meddling? I'm sure those who have lost many in the successive inferno still do.

Al_Dove

"Advisers" brings back memories of Vietnam. Next will be "mission creep".